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Trump Speaks on Guilty Verdict; Trump Allies Defend Trump; Biden to Speak About Middle East Tensions. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired May 31, 2024 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Within the next 30 minutes, Former President Trump is expected to speak from Trump Tower. And as my colleague Kristen Holmes is just reporting, it appears he's going to be speaking without a teleprompter. These, of course, will be some of his first remarks since that historic conviction on Thursday afternoon.

Meantime, the man Donald Trump is campaigning against, just departed Delaware, as he now makes his way back to Washington. Will we hear more from President Biden and the campaign about this guilty verdict seen as Priscilla Alvarez is joining us now from the White House. So, Priscilla, what more do we know about the messaging going forward here?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the campaign is certainly leading the charge on the messaging here, though they're still taking a bit of a subdued approach. They don't think that this is going to move the needle too much at this point unless it was an acquittal that may have been a different calculus for them.

But at this point, the focus in their sharply worded statement yesterday was keeping the focus on the ballot box, saying in a statement, "There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office, at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president."

[10:35:00]

Now, they did also use the opportunity to try to shore up some funds, noting that Trump conviction could lead to -- or firing up his supporters to donate more. And we've learned from the Trump campaign that they raised $34 million. Now, in that fundraising e-mail, the president making a similar point, essentially that he wanted to keep this guy out of the White House once and for all.

Now, the White House has been more quiet brief on this verdict. The White House Council spokesperson saying simply yesterday, "We respect the rule of law and have no additional comment."

Now, the president yesterday, as you mentioned, really stayed out of the public eye in Delaware, where he was commemorating the ninth anniversary of the death of his son, Beau. We just learned from the White House, however, that the president will deliver remarks this afternoon on the Middle East. We don't have additional timing, but you can anticipate that that will be an opportunity too for the reporters in the room to ask questions -- maybe ask questions about exactly this. So, we may have something from the president later today, but these remarks that were just announced will be focused on the Middle East, according to the White House.

So, again, the campaign is really leading the charge on this. The White House staying relatively brief, but we will see the president this afternoon. Erica.

HILL: Yes. All eyes will be on that moment. Priscilla, appreciate it. Thank you. Well, just about 20 minutes now away from -- 20, 25 minutes from hearing the former president speak. These, again, will be his first formal remarks since that verdict. Stay with us. We'll be back in just a moment.

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[10:40:00]

HILL: Donald Trump's most diehard political allies are blasting his historic felony convictions. Some even vowing retribution. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): This was certainly a hoax, a sham. This was devastating for the average American.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): This is the most outrageous travesty I've ever seen. And the problem here is Democrats have crossed this line.

SEN. JD VANCE (R-OH): Yes, I've never heard constituents so frustrated and so angry at what they've seen.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): This was not law. This was not criminal justice. This was politics. This was a political smear job. This was an attack job. This is what you see in banana republics.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): People see what is going on. They see that the Democrats are so desperate because President Trump is crushing Joe Biden in the polls. They see the Democrat Party and the left so desperate to stop him that they'll risk the destruction of our entire legal system to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Let's discuss with CNN Political Commentator Scott Jennings and Bakari Sellers. Gentlemen, good to see you both this morning. Of course, it was not all Republicans who immediately fell in line there, although a number of them did, as we saw.

I was struck by comments from former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, who, of course, is now running for Senate and has a shot, right, at flipping that seat, urging, all Americans to respect the verdict, he said, in his initial tweet, saying, political leaders, regardless of party, must not pour more fuel on the fire with toxic partisanship.

And then came the responses, perhaps somewhat predictable, a number of folks really just falling in line, including from the Trump campaign, Chris LaCivita, noting you just ended your campaign, and the comments went on from there.

Scott, the reality here, does this solidify even more Donald Trump's hold on the Republican Party and therefore, make it more difficult for more mainstream Republicans to actually win the races?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I will answer your question directly. Yes, I think it does solidify Trump's hold on the party precisely because mainstream Republicans, people who are decidedly non-MAGA are as mad about this as the MAGA crowd.

I mean, I've gotten tons of messages from people that I deal with in my own life over the last several years who, you know, Trump's not their favorite person, it wasn't their first choice, some of them supported other people in the Republican primary, and they are hopping mad about this trial, about the fact that it was ever brought in the first place.

So, it actually gives me a bit of a feeling, the same kind of a feeling that I had during the Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings. That was a situation where all corners of the Republican Party that didn't get along, and some didn't like Trump, all aligned around the idea that Kavanaugh was being railroaded. I get the same kind of vibe out of this.

So, right now, I think you're seeing, you know, Governor Hogan's comments notwithstanding pretty widespread viewpoint in the Republican Party that this is bad, it shouldn't have happened and that Trump deserves to be defended on it.

HILL: I mean, the polling prior to any decision here was that there wasn't a lot of sense that this would change many hearts and minds, if you will, among undecided voters. There were -- there are a few, even Trump voters, I should point out, in a recent poll from Quinnipiac, 6 percent of those who said they would vote for Donald Trump, likely Trump voters said, they would be less likely, Bakari, to vote for him if he were in fact convicted. That is well within the margin of error of that poll. As we know, every single vote counts here.

Bakari, how likely do you think it is that some of those 6 percent would make a move to Joe Biden?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Yes, I don't know if they'll make a move to Joe Biden or they'll stay at home. But people keep harping on these polls and I just giggle when they do because we're in May, one. Two, Joe Biden's doing extremely well amongst college educated whites and seniors. And three, people point out the fact that Joe Biden is underperforming again with non-white voters. And we -- I don't think there's any secret that those numbers are only going to rise. And so, that's why you don't have any threat out of many Democrats or out of the Biden campaign. They're just keeping steady on what they've been doing.

Look, I don't necessarily understand the outrage from the right. I don't understand why everybody's in this pickle. And all of a sudden, there's this outrage about the criminal justice system. When Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty, they said on this -- on the air and said it throughout the country that we need to respect the verdict. When George Zimmerman was found not guilty, they said, respect the verdict.

[10:45:00]

But all of a sudden now, when you have an individual who goes through trial, who has access to the council, has the right to testify, has the right to confront his witnesses and is adjudicated by a jury of his peers and he's found guilty on 34 counts, all of a sudden that something's wrong with that.

And it's just -- I think most people see through it. And I think that the only people who are outraged are those people who want to get in Trump's good graces.

HILL: It certainly sets up a really interesting and important conversation moving forward about the justice system, about what it means to your point, Bakari, in terms of a jury of your peers. And I have a feeling this is something we'll be hearing a lot of on the campaign trail. Even if we're not talking about the other issues, people also care about, like, the economy, for example. Bakari, Scott, really good to see both of you. Sorry, that's all the time we have for today, but I know you'll be back.

Thanks to all of you for joining me for this hour today. I'm Erica Hill in New York. Be sure to stay with CNN. We're standing by for the former president to speak in his first formal remarks since being convicted on all 34 counts.

We'll take a short break. We're back after this.

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[10:50:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to a CNN Special Report. Donald Trump about to speak any minute now, a day after being convicted on all 34 counts in this hush money criminal trial. He's become the first former U. S. President convicted of a felony. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And I'm Erin Burnett in New York. And these are live pictures just outside Trump Tower where the 45th president is expected to speak less than 24 hours of the historic verdict.

A jury found him guilty on all 34 charges of falsifying business records. That verdict coming after nearly 12 hours of deliberations across two days. Sentencing is scheduled for July 11th, just days before the Republican National Convention, which is amazing to consider, four days before it begins.

And after yesterday's historic moment, Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg made his message clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVIN BRAGG, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Many voices out there, the only voice that matters is the voice of the jury and the jury has spoken.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Meanwhile, Trump vowed to look ahead to November and repeated some all too familiar falsehoods along the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: One thing remains certain, this barring some sort of something we can't anticipate, does not end until November. The Biden campaign is embracing that. Their message is that the only way to keep Trump out of the Oval Office is at the ballot box. Wolf.

BLITZER: Erin, let's go straight to CNN National Correspondent Kristen Holmes. She's outside in New York over at Trump Tower. Kristen, what are we expecting to hear from the now criminally convicted former president of the United States?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I'm told by senior advisers to expect the messaging to remain the same as it has been since before the trial even started. Donald Trump saying that this is election interference, that this is a rigged trial, trying to link this to President Joe Biden and saying it's political persecution.

Of course, as we have reported teamly (ph) and over and over again, this has absolutely no link to Joe Biden. This was brought by the State of New York. But one thing to remind you of Donald Trump does not always stay on message. And just moments ago, we saw his team actually remove a teleprompter setup that they had in place. So, clearly not anyone's going to know exactly what Donald Trump is going to say. He often speaks off the cuff.

Now, I will remind you that recent polling we saw just as of yesterday show that among people who had said that they were going to vote for Donald Trump. 7 percent of them said they were less likely to vote for him if he was convicted.

Now, while that might seem like a small number, remember, this election is expected to all play out in the margins. Both sides believe it's going to be a very narrow victory for whoever wins. But Donald Trump's team is projecting confidence. They said that they raised $34.8 million since that verdict came out. This is small dollar donations. We do know that the site that does that crashed yesterday after the verdict. I should note, none of this can be verified until those FEC filings come out later this month.

But they are projecting confidence. They say that they believe this is going to help them rile up their base and bring people out to vote. But just as Erin said, Wolf, this is not over yet. I think that this really will be determined the outcome in November.

BLITZER: Kristen, do we know if Trump will just deliver a statement, a speech, if you will, or will he actually answer reporters' questions?

HOLMES: Wolf, we never know. We have been told that he will likely answer questions, and we are prepared to ask him about several things involving this verdict, as well as his political future. One thing I do want to mention that hasn't been touched on is the fact that July 11th is that sentencing date. That is days before the Republican Convention is set to start, the time where Donald Trump will become the Republican nominee officially.

[10:55:00]

One thing to keep in mind, we talk about how historic this is that a former president has now been convicted of felonies. He is also likely and almost expected to be the Republican nominee. He is running for office right now. So, this is a historic moment on both sides of this.

BLITZER: Kristen Holmes reporting for us. Kristen, thank you very much. You're going to be a busy lady all day today, I'm sure. Appreciate it very much. Erin, back to you.

BURNETT: All right, Wolf. So, interesting, here with my panel, Kristen, Paula Reid, talking about that sentencing date and how important that is, July 11th, four days before the RNC, and I know you've got some new reporting on that tonight, today.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. I've been speaking with sources in and around Trump, asking them, are you going to try to push that date back because of its proximity to the convention? And I'm told that they're not sure. Some members of the team believe there's a political advantage to keeping it there to help frame Trump as a martyr, something they've been trying to do for a long time in the court of public opinion.

So, there'll be discussions over the next few days about what they want to do. But I want to note, this is a significant shift. I've been speaking with his legal team about this case for a year now, and this is the first time that I have heard them talk about a purely legal proceeding in purely political terms, because, yes, they brought up the 2024 election when trying to get the case moved back in the litigation over the gag order, a political speech.

But when Todd Blanche, the other lawyers were in that courtroom, they never brought up the 2024 election, and this is the first time that I've seen this shift. And it makes sense because in November, not only is this about the White House, this is also about those two other federal cases, really his only ticket to avoid those serious cases is re-election.

BURNETT: Yes, go ahead.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: All those federal cases are part of the reason why we are even talking about a July 11th date. I mean, they were the ones who asked the judge yesterday in open court to give them a date that was in the latter half of July, which really only gives them a few options. The judge said, lucky for them, avoided the actual week of the RNC convention.

But the calendar here is really important because even if they push it into August, then they create another political situation for themselves, the Democratic Convention comes up. So, they are potentially creating a split screen between Trump being sentenced for 34 felony counts and perhaps President Biden being nominated by his own party for the presidency.

It's -- look, I mean, I think they see a lot of political advantages, but there are some political risks too. For the Republican base, this was a bonanza 24 hours for them. According to their campaign, they raised, what, $35 million --

BURNETT: Yes, 35 million.

PHILLIP: -- in less than a day.

BURNETT: Just since the verdict. Just a few hours, yes.

PHILLIP: That's the base speaking, but this election is not going to be won on the Republican base. It's going to be won in the margins, and with a sliver of voters who are probably not looking at a felony conviction as an advantage for Donald Trump.

BURNETT: You know, it's amazing, John, the point that Paula says, a shift in strategy. But I mean, just macro, even on a legal strategy, it's a complete shift. They have -- the entire premise of Donald Trump's life has been to delay legal issues. And now, he's going to say, no, bring it on, let's stick with the date.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Look, he's got two realities now. He's got the legal reality, which is completely out of his control, other than the appeals, and then the political reality. And right now, what's most interesting to me is, you know who he did not hear from this morning? President Biden.

President Biden was in Delaware, walked to his helicopter, got on it to fly back to Washington. It is often when a president chooses to speak. He did not weigh in on this case out loud, at least not yet. In a way, the Biden campaign has seeded the morning to the Trump campaign and the Trump response, and what you end up with then is this disproportionate response, where every Trump ally in the world is out there yelling, and sometimes literally screaming about the verdict. But there's no political counterpoint yet, at least, not loudly. I mean, we had Mitch Landrieu on this morning, a Biden campaign national co-chair, who said, the fact of the matter is, Donald Trump is a convicted felon, but he also made the point not to dwell on it too much, and try to shift it back to the issues and the character issues they want this campaign to be about.

BURNETT: Jennifer, so what's the strategy here just over these next -- as they're making this decision, as we're talking about, whether to try to push this date back or not? I understand the political considerations here, but on the legal side, I know this is right within the realm. You pick out six weeks. You do this. Would there be precedent or reason legally to push it out if Trump asked?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, so normally, you want the attention of your client, right? This is sentencing. You want maybe some people in his orbit to write letters for him. You want him focused on what your arguments are going to be so you can present this really sympathetic portrait to the judge, right?

Donald Trump is not going to play that game. He is not going to show any remorse. We all know that for sure. So, I think that they don't really mind so much if he's distracted, if he's doing other things. They're going to kind of do the sentencing on their own in a way that you normally don't. So, I think for them, it's like it pushes back if it stays. I mean, as long as it doesn't conflict with the other legal cases, I don't think they care so much.

BURNETT: And the expectation, Abby, of course, is that if he were sentenced to prison, which is realistic, especially given that he's not going to express remorse, says he's an innocent man, right, that that sentence wouldn't happen until?

[11:00:00]